News tagged with controversy

In a study that is likely to incite controversy, AptiQuant, a Vancouver, British Columbia based Psychometric Consulting company has released a report that it says shows users of Microsoft Internet Explorer have lower Intelligence ...

While research using human embryonic stem cells has roused political controversy for almost two decades, little has been done to scientifically assess American attitudes on the subject. New research from the University of ...

The image of the impoverished immigrant, whether depicted being jammed with others in the trunk of a car or ducking through the underbrush to reach the border, has become a cultural meme. The endless influx of immigrants ...

The recent nuclear accident in Fukushima Daiichi in Japan has brought the nuclear debate to the forefront of controversy. While Japan is trying to avert further disaster, many nations are reconsidering the future of nuclear ...

(PhysOrg.com) -- Sparking controversy in the small circle of physicists working to resolve the issue of whether dark matter actually exists, Juan Collar, spokesman for the CoGeNT project in the Soudan mine in Minnesota, spoke ...

(PhysOrg.com) -- Since 1996, when biophysicist Luca Turin first suggested that quantum mechanics may help explain how we smell various odors, the idea has met with controversy. In the past 15 years, some studies have found ...

The political controversy surrounding the Electoral College -- the institution whereby we elect the president of the United States -- is as old as the republic. In spite of recent contentious elections that raised the controversy ...

Controversy

Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of opinion. The word was coined from the Latin controversia, as a composite of controversus – "turned in an opposite direction," from contra – "against" – and vertere – to turn, or versus (see verse), hence, "to turn against."

Perennial areas of controversy include history, religion, philosophy and politics. Other minor areas of controversy may include economics, science, finances, organisation, age, gender, and race. Controversy in matters of theology has traditionally been particularly heated, giving rise to the phrase odium theologicum. Controversial issues are held as potentially divisive in a given society, because they can lead to tension and ill will, as a result they are often taboo to be discussed in the light of company in many cultures.

In the theory of law, a controversy differs from a legal case; while legal cases include all suits, criminal as well as civil, a controversy is a purely civil proceeding.

For example, the Case or Controversy Clause of Article Three of the United States Constitution (Section 2, Clause 1) states that "the judicial Power shall extend ... to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party". This clause has been deemed to impose a requirement that United States federal courts are not permitted to hear cases that do not pose an actual controversy—that is, an actual dispute between adverse parties which is capable of being resolved by the court. In addition to setting out the scope of the jurisdiction of the federal judiciary, it also prohibits courts from issuing advisory opinions, or from hearing cases that are either unripe, meaning that the controversy has not arisen yet, or moot, meaning that the controversy has already been resolved.